No, I'm NOT Gonna Fix It...

[Doc Sprocket]

My wife's friend popped by with an old, gutted popup camper trailer THING that she wanted me to spruce up for her son-in-law, the other day. The hit list included new lights and wiring, bearing service, something about a possible crack in the axle, paint, etc.

The sad part is, a relative actually charged her money for this horrible abortion!!!

Get a good look at the picture of the wheel. She towed this to my place, not knowing any better! I told her she was dead lucky! When I took it apart, there was not one ball bearing in it! The races (shot) were still there, there was evidence of the cages, and zero balls!

You gotta dig the C-clamps, too!

The plywood was rotten, rust perforation everywhere, the wiring looks like hell, no safety chains, etc, etc, etc... Yeesh.

I told her that it just was NOT worth investing the time and money into. Long story short, I'm doing a quick and dirty refurb of another trailer I had kicking around so that she can give it to her son-in-law without breaking the bank...

What a mess!

 

[B.M.800]

lol. that wheel looks oh so familiar. I think it was when we first got to the lake, my cousin comes pulling in and I see the trailer wheel wobbling around... well that aint right! Looked the same as your jobby there.

The c clamps any good yet?

 

[ML-TOYS]

Couple tack welds on the c clamp and its good to go

 

[OzFab]

I hope you told her to go get her money back. That's just... well, wrong...

 

[Doc Sprocket]

She said she probably would not be able to recover the funds, and it IS wrong. I felt bad for her, so I have spent the better part of the weekend sprucing up another old box trailer I have had for many years. I will no longer need it anyhow, since I'm doing up RoboTrailer.

I have cleaned and painted her replacement, mounted 2 brand new tires, touched up the wiring, replaced bulbs, greased everything, mounted a good spare... I yet have to bracket the spare to the trailer, and go get bearings for one side. They weren't all that bad, but I promised her 100%, and that's what she's gonna get from me... for cheap... I refuse to take advantage of a woman in her position.

 

[OzFab]

It just isn't worth it if you don't put in 110% is it...

Good on you Chris

 

[machinist@large]

My wife's friend popped by with an old, gutted popup camper trailer THING that she wanted me to spruce up for her son-in-law, the other day. The hit list included new lights and wiring, bearing service, something about a possible crack in the axle, paint, etc.

The sad part is, a relative actually charged her money for this horrible abortion!!!

Get a good look at the picture of the wheel. She towed this to my place, not knowing any better! I told her she was dead lucky! When I took it apart, there was not one ball bearing in it! The races (shot) were still there, there was evidence of the cages, and zero balls!

You gotta dig the C-clamps, too!

The plywood was rotten, rust perforation everywhere, the wiring looks like hell, no safety chains, etc, etc, etc... Yeesh.

I told her that it just was NOT worth investing the time and money into. Long story short, I'm doing a quick and dirty refurb of another trailer I had kicking around so that she can give it to her son-in-law without breaking the bank...

What a mess!

She said she probably would not be able to recover the funds, and it IS wrong. I felt bad for her, so I have spent the better part of the weekend sprucing up another old box trailer I have had for many years. I will no longer need it anyhow, since I'm doing up RoboTrailer.

I have cleaned and painted her replacement, mounted 2 brand new tires, touched up the wiring, replaced bulbs, greased everything, mounted a good spare... I yet have to bracket the spare to the trailer, and go get bearings for one side. They weren't all that bad, but I promised her 100%, and that's what she's gonna get from me... for cheap... I refuse to take advantage of a woman in her position.

It just isn't worth it if you don't put in 110% is it...

Good on you Chris

Gahhh!! Internet troubles suck!!

That's not what I'm posting about, however, it did keep me from uploading the reference book info that I offered to look up for TS on his other trailer thread.... After seeing the photo's over here, I think it definitely needs to be offered here.

OK, here goes; Trailers- how to buy & evaluate, by M.M. Smith. Appears to still be published by Techni-Visions, 16100-A Garfield Ave, Paramount, CA 90723

Ph (323) 460-2550

I googled them; there is a message/ answering machine still hooked to the phone #. All the assorted internet linked stuff makes me think they might still be in business, but then Amazon links show new books for approaching $100.00 US, and used ones going for more than I paid for my copy back in 2002.

With limited funds at the time, I couldn't afford to buy all the books they offered then; the other two that I bought were "Trailers; how to tow & maintain" and "Trailers; how to design & build, Vol. 2"

I'm trying to figure out a way to scan some of the photo's from these: some of the examples (all of which were found on the side of the road, in close proximity to the authors home and places of work) are truly frightening; the photo's TS posted above are actually fairly tame.....

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Yeah- I've seen worse, too.

Well- I popped by the Mississauga Princess Auto on lunch and grabbed the bearings and grease seal. Got home, packed 'em, pounded out the old races, drove in the new ones, and put it all back together. The coupler was abit sticky, so I tore it down, wire-wheeled the parts, and re-assembled it with a bit of fresh lube.

I was hoping she'd pop by tonight to pick it up, but I guess she's a bit busy. No matter- I had originally told her that I didn't expect to be done before next weekend. Then again, I devoted much of Saturday to it, a couple hours yesterday, and a couple hours tonite.

After busting my butt, she'd better be happy!!!

 

[OzFab]

It may be just me but, I'm pretty sure she will be...

 

[landuse]

Good on you Chris. We need more people like you around who are not scared to help others out

 

[Doc Sprocket]

It may be just me but, I'm pretty sure she will be...

Oh, she will. I was just being silly.

I did a quick tally of my labour at my cheap, I-Like-You rate, (for kicks- I'm not charging by the hour) and the parts, and I'm not making squat on this one. Karma, I suppose. Anyway, she picks it up Wednesday. Yay!

 

[fowler]

Not sure what u are complaining about

The C clamps look like they have been working just fine for some time

The wheel is still on and rolling just fine
Give it a grease up and she'll do anoughter 40,000

What's a real worry
If someone is willing to sell this to a friend of yours

Then firstly how long have they been using it on public roads
And what does the rest of there stuff look like
That's a real **** bloke sorta thing to do

Real bad
This is why they have to make all the real obvious points in a trailer regulations
Like all wheels must be attached to said trailer

Go on ya for helping her out though

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Well, surprisingly, she came and collected it before I got home from work, so I suppose that means she accepted it! Not bad considering that when she dropped off the nightmare, this one was buried out back. She never laid eyes on it, before collecting it today.

 

[machinist@large]

Well, surprisingly, she came and collected it before I got home from work, so I suppose that means she accepted it! Not bad considering that when she dropped off the nightmare, this one was buried out back. She never laid eyes on it, before collecting it today.

Hopefully, everything goes as planned.....

Now, about the roadkill special that she dropped off; since you and I both live outside the climate range for lemons, any ideas as to how you might make apple cider out of a crab apple? Since you had already done the full body tremble of horror, you didn't waste time on many detailed photo's. Is there anything you think might be salvageable? Or is this baby now scheduled to meet its maker via the local scrap yard? From the photo's you did take, the odds of any of us being able to (ethically) resell it for anything other than scrap are somewhere around Zero.....

 

[Doc Sprocket]

I think I'm just going to keep it around for yard duty for now. I kept the less-than-entirely perfect bearings and races I swapped out of the trailer I sold.

Since the bearings on this one were GONE, I'll have to dress the spindle with a file- there IS some damage- but certainly not the first time I have had to deal with this.

As far as the bearings I whipped out of the one I sold, they were just a tad noisy. Very close inspection revealed that at some point in the past, there was a bit of moisture ingress, and the trailer was parked that way for awhile. Some rollers had just a wee bit of rust pitting and staining. They do still have a fair bit of life in them, but I basically guaranteed the condition of the trailer, so I swapped 'em out for new ones.

 

[OzFab]

Well, surprisingly, she came and collected it before I got home from work

I hate when that happens. I don't know about the rest of you but, for me, the best part of doing something like this is seeing the look on their face; it's priceless...

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Funny you should mention that- I did get a little annoyed about that. I didn't get the chance to go over it with her, showcase a few features, explain what I did. AND- nobody amongst them remembered the ownership (title) or sales receipt!

 

[machinist@large]

I think I'm just going to keep it around for yard duty for now. I kept the less-than-entirely perfect bearings and races I swapped out of the trailer I sold.

Since the bearings on this one were GONE, I'll have to dress the spindle with a file- there IS some damage- but certainly not the first time I have had to deal with this.

As far as the bearings I whipped out of the one I sold, they were just a tad noisy. Very close inspection revealed that at some point in the past, there was a bit of moisture ingress, and the trailer was parked that way for awhile. Some rollers had just a wee bit of rust pitting and staining. They do still have a fair bit of life in them, but I basically guaranteed the condition of the trailer, so I swapped 'em out for new ones.

I normally turn people away from any type of "Bearing Buddy" as a waste of time and money (any bearing that turns more than ~100 RPM that's packed solid with/in grease without a place to squeeze out the excess when it's put into operation will eventually burn itself up from all the excess friction all that grease induces: the theory that they provide positive internal pressure to keep contamination out only works with if the above conditions are met. The only reason the Mfg. hasn't been sued into oblivion is because A] properly assembled trailer axle bearings are supposed to last as long as their automotive counterparts without needing to be torn down, cleaned, inspected, and repacked with grease (15,000 ~30,000 miles, for those out there who haven't had to ask that question before), and B] almost all new trailers seem to come equipped with them (An Added Selling Point!!) which means the new owner thinks that all is automatically covered, and no more input is needed on their part......

At far less than highway speeds, a pair of the above "Helpers" should keep those old, tired bearings happy for a lot longer than it'll take for the rest of the trailer to return to the ore state ("Ashes to ashes, Rust to rust.....)

 

[OzFab]

Funny you should mention that- I did get a little annoyed about that. I didn't get the chance to go over it with her, showcase a few features, explain what I did. AND- nobody amongst them remembered the ownership (title) or sales receipt!

Maybe you should've chained it to the house (or other immovable object

Well, at least you get a second shot at it but, still, it's not the same

 

[machinist@large]

Maybe you should've chained it to the house (or other immovable object

Well, at least you get a second shot at it but, still, it's not the same

Maybe not the house; if someone doesn't notice things like the wheel/hub assembly about to fall off, they may not notice something minor like the trailer rapidly being returned to it's component state against it's will,......